Reindeer Games
by Illustriousgiraffe
Summary: Loki has been caught sneaking around Avengers Tower for unknown reasons, instead of killing him on the spot, Tony has one of his 'brilliant' ideas and decides that it's his job to fix Loki's relationship with Thor with the help of a certain team of heros and a bit of holiday spirit. Set after Thor: The Dark World. slight spoilers for it. No thorki here, just brotherly love.
1. Chapter 1

**Well, I saw ****_Thor: The Dark World_**** three times in theaters and it was awesome and now poor Thor thinks that Loki is dead, so this is a fix-it/holiday fic to make me happy.**

**I do not own anything but the story idea. **

**Enjoy!**

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The first time it had happened Tony had written the humanoid formed energy signal showing up on his scanners on the seventy second floor of stark tower off for being some sort of practical joke by one of his more intellectual pals, possibly Bruce or Pepper, maybe even JARVIS getting a bit too sentient. He had checked the video feed from his security cameras on that floor and saw nothing but an empty corridor. Not worth a look.

The second time it showed up Tony had been sitting at one of his many work desks, reading a debriefing from SHIELD on the whole convergence thing, when he had spied it again. He had pulled up a three dimensional holographic layout of the live scanner feed and saw that the thing was standing there again, on the seventy second floor.

This time he had to investigate, so he got in the elevator and rode a few floors down. He even pulled the scan up on his phone to keep track of the signal, though it wasn't moving at all, just standing in one place. When he finally got to the correct hall his scanners showed that it was directly in front of him, and yet his eyes showed him nothing. So he left. It had to be glitch.

The third time was just the last straw, Tony _had_ to figure it out, if something was intruding in his building without tripping any of the wide array of security protocols and mechanisms he had built, he had to know how and why it was doing so. His system didn't _get_ glitches.

It ended up being Loki. Of all the things it could have been it had to be Loki.

Tony had put on his suit, trekked angrily into the elevator, and stomped down the hallway until he was close enough to see the energy signal. After he had configured a few filters and other visual aids in his helmet he could distinctly make a face out of the glowing blue energy signal.

Loki.

Loki in his building. He was just plain insulted.

Tony left. He left in anger and went upstairs to do what he did best, to think.

The fourth time Tony would be ready.

And the fourth time he was. He was oh so ready, but not in the way he thought he would have been.

By the next time he saw the stupid glowing Loki on his scanners he had finished reading the convergence file and discovered that a certain trickster god was supposedly dead (as well as redeemed) and that a certain blonde, hammer-wielding, Asgardian was pretty torn up about it.

Thor had been staying at his tower along with the other avengers throughout this entire time to visit for the earth holidays.

After thinking about this Tony had scolded himself for not noticing the correlation sooner, he was a genius after all.

All those times he had seen the energy signal he had been so preoccupied with _what_ it was that he hadn't paid attention to _where_ it was. Loki had been standing outside Thor's room.

The trickster missed his big brother, and Tony was going to make this work to everyone's advantage. No one messed with Tony Stark's friends, and Tony was pretty sure letting your brother believe you were dead constituted as 'messing with'.

"You know, reindeer games, your name actually has a festive earth origin," Tony said, leaning up against the wall, phone scanner in his hand. He crossed his arms casually.

The figure on his phone jerked in his direction.

No words. No visual.

"C'mon, I know you're there."

Still nothing.

Tony lowered his voice, "Okay, fine, I'll speak a little lower, wouldn't wanna wake up your big bro would we?" He said, jabbing a finger at Thor's room.

"He's not my brother." Loki said from nowhere in particular, Tony still couldn't see him without the scanner.

"You know, Dasher, there's this thing called the holiday spirit down here on earth, or Mintgard or whatever you call it."

"Midgard," Loki corrected, finally showing up. He was scowling.

"Potato, Patato. Any way, you," Tony pointed at the god with his phone, "have some serious family issues."

"And you have pieces of shrapnel inching closer towards your heart every second. We all have our flaws."

"Keep up with the news: those little nuisances are gone. You're family issues, on the other hand, are worse than ever, considering Hammer Time in there thinks you're dead and you have been standing outside his room watching him for more than a few nights."

"I'm simply an illusion."

There was a pause.

"You still care." Tony said, as if revealing a great truth to Loki.

"And if I do? What of it?" Loki said, donning a look of indifference.

"You need to tell him."

"Why are you interested in such a thing? This does not concern you." Loki said.

"Yes, sorry, it does, because there are these things called friends, and generally I've heard you do nice things for them. Pretty sure this counts a 'nice thing'."

"I refuse."

"Fine, leave." Tony said dismissively.

Loki looked as though he was trying to do just that, but it wasn't working out very well. His form flickered but he couldn't quite disappear.

"What did you do?" He asked, seething.

"Magic, science, there a fine line between the two. I guess you could say I'm a bit of a sorcerer, and by that I mean genius scientist who can figure out how to block and simple teleportation relay until I see fit."

Silence. Angry silence.

"So," Tony said, clapping, "When do we start?"

"You think I don't have other methods of leaving?"

"No, I think you do, but I think that _you'll_ think again about them when I tell you that every single avenger is sleeping on this floor right now and still aren't too fond of you, and I can wake them up whenever I want, which they won't be too happy about either."

Loki looked more than a little sick, but still determined.

Silence.

"Your funeral," Tony said nonchalantly.

"I hate you," Loki said.

"I'll take that as a yes. Now, I have a lot planned for you." Tony said, starting to walk back to the elevator.

"I could just kill you now."

Tony stopped in front of a door and tipped his head towards it, "and I could wake up your big green best friend in a matter of seconds. Do you really want to take the chance?"

Loki looked all kinds of angry, but he picked up his feet and began walking towards Tony, he didn't particularly feel like becoming part of the floor anytime soon.

"Great," Tony said, clapping his hands and smirking, "You can have that drink now if you'd like."

**tbc**

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**So, what do you think so far? Please review follow and fav!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A little bit of Avengers-Loki interaction in this chapter. The last part may seem a little random to the plot, well it kind of is. Sorry about that. I just wanted some Loki trying to get through living with his enemies in there**

* * *

"So you're telling me that I _can't_ kill him?" Clint asked, raising both eyebrows.

"Exactly, I knew you'd get it eventually," Tony said, patting Clint on the shoulder a couple of times.

"I _am_ right here," Loki said, "I can hear you."

"Oh, okay, let me rephrase it: Can I kill you now?" Clint said, taking a step towards Loki.

"You could try." Loki replied dismissively.

"I'm with Clint, remember the last time we held him in captivity?" Natasha said, finally jumping in.

"Not captivity, he's staying here, as our guest." Said Tony.

That just earned him stares.

"Tony, it's really not the best idea." Steve said, looking worried.

"Yeah, you can't expect him not to go all-" Bruce struggled to find an appropriate word and sufficed for just waving his hands around slowly "again."

"Okay guys, this is like, my tower so if you don't like my plan then tough luck. My tower, my rules, you should know this by now." Tony said.

"I'm not sure about this 'plan' of yours. Why does it need to involve a homicidal nutcase?" Natasha asked, unamused.

Loki was about to make an unpleasant remark to the assassin, but before he could, he was shoved under the kitchen counter by Stark.

"Hi Thor," Tony said drawlingly, greeting the thunder god whom had apparently finished training two hours early.

"Hello friends," He said loudly. His eyes were unfocused.

The avengers looked at him with oddly blank expressions, all except Tony, who was smiling uncomfortably.

"Is there anything the matter?" Inquired the god.

No one answered.

Steve finally sighed and spoke up, "Nothing is wrong. You're back early."

"I did not feel like training for very long today, I am rather tired."

"Is everything alright?" asked Steve with concern.

Thor looked puzzled for a moment, as if he didn't know how to answer. The expression passed quickly and he put on a wide smile, "Of course I am. If you would excuse me I am going to meet Jane for a meal," He said, walking away.

There sure was a lot of silence today.

"That's why Reindeer games is here," Tony said. "Have you ever seen Thor so subdued? He's I-break-things-for-fun Thor, does he seem like that now?"

Silence, again.

Loki appeared out of thin air in front of Tony, "You know, I can hide without being shoved under a countertop."

Tony ignored him, "Hasn't anyone noticed besides me? I mean, I know you aren't geniuses like me but I expected more from you guys."

Steve rolled his eyes.

"So who's in?" Tony asked enthusiastically.

"Fine," Natasha said in a clipped manner, "but only so we don't have to deal with a depressed god anymore."

"I knew you'd see my way eventually."

Tony looked around expectantly, waiting for the others to agree.

Bruce sighed, "Fine, just don't-don't let him near me."

"Deal," Tony said, shooting a look at Loki.

"If it makes Thor better, then it's alright with me," Steve finally said.

"I'll just take your silence as a yes, Legolas," Tony said to Clint.

Clint glared at him. "I can't promise that I won't kill him."

"You can kill him after Thor finds out he's alive. Though you may have trouble doing that once he knows," Tony said.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Loki asked diplomatically.

"No." Tony said; and with that, the planning began.

* * *

"Hey if you're just sitting around you may as well help." Tony said over a pile of boxes in that he was carrying.

"Yeah, great idea, give him fragile, dangerous, glass orbs." Natasha said, carrying two more boxes from the elevator over to the huge tree Tony had placed in the center of the living room.

"What's he going to do? _Christmas_ us to death?" Bruce said.

"I have no desire to partake in your odd midgardian rituals, Though if you'd like, you could let me leave." said Loki from his seat at the bar counter.

"Not a chance," Tony said, "besides it's only a few ornaments."

"Would you shut up if I put one orb on the dead tree?"

"No, but maybe I'd stop talking for like one, two seconds."

Loki groaned and picked himself up from the stool.

He walked briskly over to a large open box of ornaments, bent down, plucked one from the box and shoved it, upside down, onto the tree.

"Errr . . . Loki, that's not how you're supposed to do it." Steve said awkwardly.

"There are _hooks_ on the tops, to _hook_ them onto the branches," Tony informed him.

Loki stared at the tree with disdain.

"Here, why don't you try again," Tony said, holding out a small green ornament.

Loki took it in his nimble fingers and hooked it quickly on to the tree. "Can I stop partaking in this ridiculous tradition now?"

"Please do," Clint said.

Loki had begun to walk away angrily to go sit on the couch when he heard a small shatter, a delicate noise that made him stop.

Bruce flinched.

"See, I told you," Natasha said.

Loki turned on his heel. He looked to the ground where little green shards sat in a glistening pile on the tree skirt.

With the wave of his hand, the splinters of glass floated back up to the tree and reformed exactly as they were before.

The avengers all shared various looks.

Loki scoffed and descended onto the couch gracefully, staring out the window like nothing had happened.

"Okay, can I just be the first to say: that, was pretty damn awesome." Tony said.

The avengers launched into conversation as they started to drape the tree with a multitude of colorful ornaments.

Every so often, when Natasha was too unstable balancing on Clint's shoulders to reach a high branch, or when Steve forgot his own strength, and a little shatter was heard, and if the avengers pretended not to look, they might just find their shattered ornament back in one piece on the tree again.

* * *

**Te gusta?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay new chapter!**

**enjoy!**

* * *

"Why are you making me do this Stark?" Loki asked.

The two were standing in front of the window, looking out at the snow-covered city.

"Have you seen Thor?-Don't answer that, I _did_ see you watching his door several nights, which, by the way, is really creepy, I'm pretty sure you've seen him." Tony said.

"That still doesn't explain why you care."

"Hey don't worry about it. Call it Christmas spirit."

"How does that constitute as a reason? Christmas is all about shoving brightly wrapped boxes in people's faces, is it not?" Loki asked, "What has that to do with Thor and I?"

"You've got the wrong idea about the holidays, Loki." Tony said, taking a sip of his drink.

Loki raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Now, most people just get excited about the presents and crap, which are, like pretty exciting, but you are _supposed_ to think of it as a time where you bond and stuff. I don't know, I'm the wrong one to be asking about this. Daddy issues."

A smirk graced Loki's face for a fraction of a second, before he realized that he shouldn't be impressed by his enemy and he returned his face to a neutral one.

Steve chose this moment to walk in, holding, with great care, a space-age looking star shaped contraption.

"Ah, talk to Cap about it," Tony said, putting down his drink and walking over to the blonde and grabbing the star, "I'll take that."

"Banner said something about the, er, the circuit converter not delivering the power supply correctly. I think." Steve said confusedly. Technology was still not one of his strong points.

Steve turned to leave but was stopped by Tony, "Hold it , I have a reindeer over here who needs to learn about the holiday spirit, this is your job now, unless you want to try and fix this," He said, holding up the star.

Steve grit his teeth and walked over to where Loki was standing by the window.

"So Loki, what do you want to know?" Steve asked, trying not to think about how the city outside had almost been destroyed by the man in front of him.

"Nothing." Loki said, continuing to look out the window.

"Didn't Tony want -"

"Yes, I did," Said the brunette, sticking his head out from behind the tree where he was working on the star. "Tell him about Christmas Joy and all that other cavity inducing stuff."

Steve turned back to Loki, who was now looking directly at him with his piercing green eyes.

"Just because _he_ thinks I should know, it does not mean I want to."

"Well it seems to me that it's something you need to know, if not for your own sake then for Thor's. So I'll tell you about it."

"Even if I refuse to listen?" Loki asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yes!" came Tony's disembodied voice.

"Well I can talk, and you can't very well stop yourself from listening. So just hear me out."

Loki rolled his eyes, but didn't make a move to leave.

Steve sighed, wondering where he could start.

"The holidays are-Well, they're about keeping close with your family and showing them how much you care, which you should do for the rest of the year as well, but that's besides the point. This time of year is for recognizing that you-that you have a family and that you appreciate them and showing them that appreciation."

Loki looked unconvinced.

"Look, I don't know what happened between you and Thor, I'm not sure I even want to know, but brothers are still brothers. Have you seen what you did to him? He's devastated."

"I don't see what a present can do to fix any of this, not that I want to fix it."

"It's more about being there for him. I'm not going to lie and say that I like you, but Thor likes you and that's good enough for me, try and give him something back for a change." Steve said. Honestly, he was having trouble not thinking about Bucky whilst giving this little speech.

Loki looked at him with searching eyes. Steve felt as though the god could tell that he had some personal connection to this all. He had a way of looking straight through you; such perceptive green eyes.

"Well thank you for that rousing discussion about love and friendship, I'll be sure to keep that in mind next time I try and kill my brother."

Steve glared at Loki, "Give him a break for once. Do you really want him dead? Because all he wants is for you to be alive."

"The two of us cannot coexist. It is one or the other."

"No, I think it's just the other way around, it's both or neither." Steve replied. "Why did you even come here if you think that way?"

Loki didn't say a word, because he had none. He didn't know what to say. The silvertongue was unable to spin any response.

Finding that he could say nothing, Loki stomped off to down a random hallway, leaving Steve to wonder what would become of the two brothers.

"Deniiiaaalllll!" sung Tony from behind the tree.

* * *

After Loki had stomped around for a considerable time, he stopped and tried to work out where he was going. He honestly didn't know. He didn't know anything anymore. He felt as though all his knowledge, everything he was sure of, was shifting out of place. These stupid avengers were shaking his values, messing with his mind; something that hadn't happened since the Chitauri had been inside his head.

He tried fighting against it, he had a natural reaction to reject the advice of others, any sort of influence on his mind was blocked by his subconscious. He would not let his mind be swayed again.

The trickster god felt trapped, and just as he was about to punch a wall, which, admittedly, was very Thor-like of him, he heard a ding and turned to see that he was standing by the earth transport that was called an elevator.

Not really knowing the reason, Loki stepped into the open elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. He had to get outside. These walls were pressing in on him as much as everyone whom had ever tried to influence him had. He needed to see the sky, and breath some fresh air.

As the elevator descended with great speeds Loki settled himself into the corner and stood with his arms crossed, not until he heard the clearing of a throat did he realize that he wasn't alone.

Bruce stood at the opposite end of the small metallic room, looking at the trickster god nervously. It was bad enough being in a tight descending box, having a stare down with a psychopathic god did not help at all.

"Where are you going?" Bruce asked curiously.

"Out," came the angry reply.

"I'm pretty sure that's on the list of things you are not allowed to do."

"I am not a simple minded child, I can do whatever I please."

"Like going back to Asgard when you leave the building."

"Yes, like that."

Loki actually hadn't really thought about that, he had just wanted to get outside, away from all the distractions and stares. Though going outside in a city he had almost destroyed wouldn't help with the latter.

"So I probably shouldn't let you leave." Bruce said, getting nervous that he would have to hulk out in an elevator.

Loki held up his wrist. "Teleportation damper. That incorrigible man of iron slipped it on me while I was sleeping."

"Can't you just-"

Bruce never got to finish because, before he could, he was shocked into silence by the elevator coming to a sharp halt and seeing Thor saunter in.

Bruce panicked for a moment, snapping his head over to Loki, but he thankfully found that the trickster god was out of sight, literally.

"Hello Banner, how goes your day?" Thor asked politely, moving towards the corner where Loki was still (presumably) standing.

"I'm, uh, I'm fine; and yourself?"

"As good as I can be," Thor seemed like he was going to say more but instead he just donned a look of confusion when he bumped into something that wasn't there.

He tried again to lean against the wall again but found that something seemed to be in the way, something he couldn't see.

"You alright buddy?" Bruce asked, seeing the look of uncertainty on Thor's face.

"Yes, it's nothing, I am fine. It's just . . . it's as though I can feel a presence that can not be real," he replied turning towards Banner and removing himself from the confusing wall.

Suddenly, behind Thor, Loki reappeared and gave Bruce a look that said _change the subject. _

"So . . . where are you going?" Bruce asked awkwardly.

Still-visible Loki did a silent face-palm.

"I am going outside," Thor said, smiling sadly.

The thunder god made a move to turn, at which Loki almost revealed himself to get this whole ridiculous business over with. He had already begun to reach out to tap his brother's shoulder.

Bruce scowled at him shook his head ever so slightly.

Loki retracted his hand slowly.

"What are you looking at?" Thor questioned.

"Loki." Bruce said, his eyes going wide, realizing what he had just said. " . . . I mean, Loki, do you think of him often. Uhhhhh . . . "

Thor looked hurt and very confused.

Loki disappeared again.

The tall blonde sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Every day. One does not easily forget the death of their brother."

"I'm sorry, I, uuhhh, I shouldn't have said anything."

Loki reappeared for a second and shook his head enthusiastically. Smiling in a way that said _Ya think?_.

"No, no it's alright, perhaps I should be more open with my friends about such matters."

Bruce didn't really know how to respond.

There was a long pause.

"We were closer, when we were young. I can not say that I know what happened."

By this time the elevator had already reached the ground floor, but no one made a move to leave. They just stood there with the doors open.

"I'm guessing it had something to do with the fact that Loki got crazy."

"It was I who acted with lunacy. I did not treat him well in our adolescence. I do not blame him for hating me. I do not even blame him for dying. I blame myself."

"You shouldn't. If he was here I'm sure he would tell you that it wasn't your fault." Bruce said pointedly, glaring subtly at the spot where he estimated Loki was.

Loki appeared just so he could roll his eyes.

"Perhaps he would."

Thor seemed to only then realize that the elevator doors were open, so he put a steady hand on Bruce's shoulder and smiled thankfully.

"Thank you for listening."

Bruce smiled in that sad way of his and watched as his odd alien friend walked out of the building.

After Thor was out of sight Bruce turned to his side and glared at the recently reappeared Loki.

The two men had a staring contest; Bruce's mouth was set in an angry line.

"I thought you were an illusion," Bruce said, remembering how Thor had bumped into invisi-Loki.

"I'm also the God of lies," said Loki, stepping out of the elevator and facing the closing doors

With a ding, the tall, raven-haired, man was left standing alone in the lobby, oddly aware of his Asgardian clothing. He quickly cast a shimmer over his form and donned some sensible illusion-clothing, striding briskly towards the exit, after all, he had a brother to follow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so I know that it is after Christmas and this is a Christmas centered fic but I was very busy and it is still the holiday season. Sorry I couldn't get it up before. Anyway, I don't know if anyone has read them, but I just finished the Journey Into Mystery kid-Loki comics and they were so sad and amazing that I needed to vent, so I wrote. **

**Marvel owns the deleted scene that I took the cow comment from, if you haven't seen it you need to because its so emotional and feelsy and has a brother moment.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Loki had followed Thor through winding streets and huge crowds and had heard enough car horns to last a lifetime and smelled enough streetcar food to make him never want to eat again, so that now, when he found himself in a place where all the noise seemed far off and muffled, he almost thanked the gods. Good thing he hadn't, they weren't worth thanking, what had they ever done for him?

The moderately quieter place that Thor had (unknowingly) led him to was called Central Park. It made sense enough to Loki; it was in the center of the puny mortal city and had enough greenery to constitute as a park, though why they were currently in the centrally located park Loki hadn't the slightest idea.

Thor had seemed to know where he was going. He had definitely been to this park before. Without hesitation he walked down pathways and through small patches of shrubbery and trees; he was walking with purpose.

Loki shadowed behind Thor all the way and nearly ran into him when they finally stopped. They were in a relatively natural part of the park, with a considerable amount of trees and few pathways. There was not a mortal in sight, just trees and rocks and snow.

Thor climbed down to a small depression in the landscape, a little secluded area surrounded by trees and rocks and large enough to pace around in. In was a peaceful place, if Loki ignored the distant intermittent car horn and the fact that his blundering brother was present.

Said brother sighed and slid down to his knees. After a moment he closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall of rocks behind him.

**What place is this,** Loki thought, **that you seem to have been to before yet tell no one about? **This was very un-Thor. Yet maybe Loki did not know his brother well enough any more to say what was un-Thor and was was not.

After Thor did absolutely nothing but sit with his eyes closed and look depressed for an insufferable amount of time Loki rolled his invisible eyes and made to leave.

The trickster stopped though, with his feet gripping shakily to the slight rocky incline, when he heard his brother moving.

Loki turned his head around to peek and saw Thor take something from the human coat Stark had bought him. It was a small cow carved from green stone, just a trinket, something one could find almost anywhere, but Thor held it as though it was the most precious thing in all the nine realms.

"Oh Loki," He whispered, -the only indication that he was talking to himself and had not found his brother out-, "I'm so sorry."

The thunderer placed the minute statue down at the base of a tree with a gentleness that was uncommon for such a warrior of his caliber. It settled its tiny green feet into the thin layer of snow at a crooked angle and was immediately corrected by Thor's gargantuan hand.

Loki wanted to leave, he really did, he didn't need more odd feelings that Thor was his real brother or that he loved him or anything stupid like that, but something kept him perched on those rocks, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

He felt worry.

Worry for his brother, he felt the need to make Thor feel better, he felt like the child that wanted nothing more than to impress his older brother, and it felt strange. It felt wrong and right at the same time and Loki fought for and against it with all his strength.

**Why is it a cow?** Loki thought to distract himself. **Of all things why is it a-?**

Wrong train of thought.

Loki found himself involuntarily thinking back to the very last time he and Thor had a conversation as friends, as brothers. It seemed so far off now. It had not been that long. Right before Thor's coronation . . .

_"Nice feathers" Loki said, regarding Thor's helmet._

_"You don't really want to start this again, do you, cow?_

They had laughed and smiled and it was the last time Loki had actually felt like he belonged somewhere.

There, up on the rocks Loki felt so different from his past self. He was a completely different person, he was a different _species_.

As he gazed down on the green stone cow and tried not to think too much, he noticed an asgardian inscription on the nearby tree.

It was an epitaph, in Thor's penmanship; this was the closest thing Loki had to a grave.

When Thor had asked Odin-Loki what had been done with his brother's body, the trickster had simply dismissed it as a matter not worth talking about . . . traitors deserved no graves, they deserved to be forgotten. And everyone had, apparently everyone didn't include Thor.

Suddenly Loki had the overwhelming feeling that he didn't belong where he was standing and immediately obliged his instincts, scrambling the rest of the way up the rocks.

* * *

Tony was sitting in the living room, admiring the star that he and Bruce had built. It hovered over the top branches of the towering Christmas tree and spun slowly, changing color and projecting holographic snow on the walls around him.

It was one of those rare times when Tony didn't feel like he needed to do something to keep his hands busy. He could just sit back and admire his work.

That is, until the psycho brother of Thor came crashing through the doorway, taking off a chip of the wall with a green blast of magic.

Tony rolled his eyes and looked over at the trickster with little amusement. "Bad day huh?"

Loki, who was standing in one spot looking like he wanted to kill everything around him, including the floor, just winced in response.

"That bad?" Tony asked. "Want a drink?"

"I'd love one."

* * *

After Tony had poured a generous amount of alcohol into a rather large glass, the two men sat at opposite edges of the couch, Tony staring and Loki brooding.

"Sooooooo . . . Not liking the big bad city I'm guessing." Tony ventured

"Sure, think whatever pleases your minuscule brain." Loki said, looking away and baring his teeth.

There was a cold, hard silence for several minutes before Tony abruptly asked: "This is about Thor isn't it?"

"Of course it isn't. I do not concern myself with my false brother. He is a fool."

"You are so lying."

"Why am I even conversing with you?" Loki growled.

"Hey," Tony said, putting up his hands nonchalantly, "you're the one who chose to stay when you came lurking in here."

"I have nothing else to do since you so generously trapped me in this building and on this miserable planet."

"We could play a board game, just a warning though, I always win." Tony offered.

"Why would I want to be more bored than I already am?"

"No, no, it's like, it's a board, B-O-A-R-D. You know, rectangular, usually colorful." Tony tried to explain.

"It sounds repulsive whatever it is."

"How about chess? Do you have chess on God-Planet or whatever?"

"Asgard. It is called Asgard and on Asgard we do not play petty midgardian games such as this chess."

"Earth," Tony corrected, "Here, let me show you."

Stark put down his drink and pulled up a holo-chess set on the nearby coffee table; Loki didn't seem to recognize it. So Tony set out to teach the god chess, and he learned a valuable lesson: never teach a trickster anything. Ever.

* * *

Thor walked tiredly out of the elevator and into the vast sitting room of Avengers tower to find Tony sitting alone and staring intently at a glowing holographic earth game he recognized as chess (Jane had taught him how to play once). Tony looked as though he was losing, though to who he was losing Thor had little idea.

"I was unaware that one could play solitaire chess," Thor said, walking closer.

Tony looked up from his intense concentration and jumped a few inches out of his seat, rapidly glancing to the empty chair across the table and then back to Thor.

"Uhh . . . Yes! Doesn't everyone. If they don't they should because I do. So yeah. Oh look it's other-me's turn." Tony said, jogging to the other side of the table and sitting on the seemingly empty chair.

Thor thought he heard a grunt.

"Are you quite alright?"

"Fine. Why?"

"You are not sitting, just hovering over the chair." Thor pointed out.

"Doesn't everyone do that too? Man, everyone needs to be more like me." Tony said, in desperation he added: "Would you like to play a game?"

Thor looked as though he was about to reject the offer but his expression soon changed and he donned a wide smile. "Yes, that would please me."

Thor sat down where Tony had previously been seated as said genius reset the board, making the pieces flicker back to their starting positions.

Thor was about to move a pawn when Tony stopped him, looking at the chair he was sitting in.

"Wait! First we have to . . . ask the spirits to leave this room. It's an earth thing. You know, standard procedure" Tony said, he looked rather like he was thinking about how to execute some vast plan.

"Uh we have to stand up," Thor remained seated as Tony stood, "Come on, it's required."

"I do not remember . . ."

"Are you questioning me?" Tony asked

Thor put his hands up placatingly and stood.

"Spirits, leave this room and do not influence this sacred game of chess," Tony said, glaring at his seat. When he seemed satisfied that he had waited long enough he sat back down. "Amen shalom and bless this game." Tony added, grinning.

"This is an odd planet." Thor said moving his first piece.

Tony made his move, "You're right. But don't get all homesick yet, tomorrow's Christmas; and boy have I got a present for you."

"You're seasonal celebration sounds rather like our Yule time tradition. I think I shall enjoy such festivities."

"Oh trust me, you will."

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**Loki wants you to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so this chapter is really short, but I saw this as being its own chapter and not connected to the next one (which will be up soon). I kind of pictured each little snippet as a cut in a movie, so whenever there is a breaker line in between the scenes just picture it as cutting to the next one in a movie. **

**enjoy!**

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It was late at night in New York and all the the entire team save Thor were gathered in the sitting room of Avengers Tower; Loki was standing in between all of them, wishing that he wasn't. Stark had dragged him out of bed at this ungodly hour to plan how they were going to reveal to Thor that he was alive.

"I am _not_ stuffing myself in there," Loki said, pointing to a huge, colorfully wrapped, cardboard box near the tree.

"Come on it'll be a big surprise!" Tony said.

"This has to be one of your crazier ideas, Tony," Steve said, "We can't just close him in a box."

"I don't see why not," Clint said "maybe we could chuck him out a window while we're at it."

Thus began the onslaught of ideas of varying degrees of psychotic.

* * *

"He could . . . hide behind the tree!" Tony exclaimed.

"What if Thor walks in from a different direction?" Steve asked.

"Oh."

* * *

"Turn invisible and appear right in front of his face when he walks in. That sounds good to me." Tony said.

"Can Asgardians have heart attacks?" Natasha asked somewhat rhetorically.

Clint smirked.

"I don't particularly feel like being punched through a wall because of my brother's impeccable reflexes." Loki said.

"So I'm getting a 'no' vibe from this one, am I right?" Tony said, putting on a thinking face.

* * *

"How about . . . we kill Loki." Clint suggested excitedly.

"I fail to see how that would help." Bruce said with little amusement.

* * *

"Hey I still have some more big boxes, I thought it was a pretty good idea!' Tony said.

That earned him one, big, unanimous 'no'.

* * *

"One of us should tell Thor first to prepare him," Natasha said.

"Okay," Tony said sarcastically, "and which one of us, exactly, wants to deal with an emotionally unstable god who thinks his brother is dead? Show of hands?"

No hands.

"Yeah, thought so." Tony said

* * *

"You could let me leav-," Loki said.

"Any other ideas?" Tony cut him off.

* * *

"How about we all tell him together," Steve suggested.

"And then what?"

Silence.

"Then we could let him kill Loki."

Everybody sighed and Tony face-palmed.

* * *

"I could kill all of you," Loki suggested casually.

He didn't even get a response.

* * *

"We could let Loki decide, Thor it his brother after all." Steve offered.

Tony gave Steve a _really? _face, "you know he'd just say-"

"You could LET ME LEAVE," Loki said firmly.

"See?"

* * *

"Hey, does anyone know why are I'm seeing two Caps?" Tony said, pointing.

There were, in fact, two Steves standing at opposite edges of the circle.

"Okay, I give up . . . Are we hallucinating?" Bruce asked incredulously.

"This is getting ridiculous," one of the Steves said, looking at his doppelganger nervously.

"No. _This,_ is my plan," The other one said. And suddenly, in a shimmer of green light, he wasn't the stoic, army captain at all, he was the lean, mischievous god of lies.

No one argued.

* * *

**Was that too confusing? Review please.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! Sorry this took so long, I rewrote it a lot, the confrontation was hard to write! If you haven't seen Thor 2 I reference what Loki told Thor when he was disguised as Captain America, and that's how he knows it's Loki, Pm or review if you have any questions.**

**Enjoy!**

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Thor awoke with a start, sitting up and rubbing his face with his huge hands to clear away the blurry remnants of a nightmare.

It was moderately early in Earth hours but Thor had faith that most of the Avengers would be up. Natasha and Clint were always awake at the crack of dawn, training; Bruce was usually up and about in the lab not much later, and Steve would cook some sort of sustenance at around the same time. Tony was the only one who might still be sleeping, but more oft than not the inventor had simply forgotten about sleep altogether and had simply worked in the lab through the entire night.

So when Thor donned a shirt and walked tiredly out of his room he walked with the confidence that he would not be alone this morning in Avengers tower.

The god traipsed calmly to the sitting room, -the unspoken HQ for the team-, and upon arriving found all his friends gathered around the tree, talking and laughing. A smile sprouted on his lips, he was thankful to have such companions. They were now the closest thing he had to a family, considering that half his family was dead and the other half was Odin.

Thor stopped thinking of such things and strolled over to the kitchen area to get a cup of coffee.

"Hey there, Slugger," Tony greeted from the couch "Merry Christmas!"

"Thank you, Stark. Merry Christmas to you as well." Thor replied, testing out the Midgardian phrase.

As Stark had turned back around, he nudged Steve, who promptly got up and strode over to stand beside Thor in the kitchen.

"Hey there Thor." He greeted cheerily with a swing of his arm.

Thor raised an eyebrow, Steve was carrying himself strangely and his voice did not sound like his own. It wasn't at all explainable.

"Good Morrow, Steve. Merry Christmas"

Steve's responding smile was followed by an awkward silence.

Thor looked over at his friends and made eye contact with a few of them, only to see each of their heads turn the other way, as if they hadn't been staring at all. It seemed like they were waiting for something, but what?

He dismissed it as some strange holiday custom, -_stare upon the unsuspecting friend until they notice_ game or something-, and turned his attention back to Steve, who looked unusually ill at ease.

"Would you like some coffee?" Thor asked.

"What is-? I mean yes, I would love some coff-ee" Steve said haltingly.

Thor poured and handed him a cup only to watch as The Man Out of Time let it dribble out of his mouth and back into the cup as fast as he had sipped it in. He looked disgusted, which was odd; Steve _loved_ coffee.

Thor tried to ignore Steve's abnormal behavior and just looked back at his friends to see if they, perchance, had noticed it too. They all made a point of turning around and acting, again, as though they had not had their eyes glued to him.

Tony coughed loudly.

"That was . . . delicious," Steve said after a pause, placing the cup down as far away from his person as possible. "Many thanks."

Thor smiled, his friends were so strange. "So what do you plan to do on this Midgardian holiday?" Thor asked, changing the Topic.

Tony coughed again.

Steve suddenly looked more than a little nervous. "Well," He started, " . . . I was planning on having a rousing discussion about truth, honor, and patriotism . . ." He said quietly and slowly, looking down.

Thor's eyes went wide, and this time he didn't even register that all his friends had stood up and were _openly_ staring right at the two of them.

Thor looked directly into Steve's wild blue eyes, and in his peripheral vision he saw a second Steve walk into the room, confirming his theory.

The thunder god reacted without a second thought, and was kind enough to introduce his brother to the nearest wall, smashing the illusion off of Loki like it had been a thin layer of ice, shattered on impact.

"This doesn't seem overly different from what you did last time I posed as one of your friends. Have you no other reaction to such illusions?" Loki asked, smirking.

Thor was still pinning the trickster to the hard plaster that pressed upon his back, and looked about as calm as a Biglesnipe whom had drank a truckload of that awful coffee concoction.

He unconsciously pressed Loki closer to the wall. "I thought you dead! I saw you die! Was THAT an illusion?!" He burst out.

"Yes, it was" Loki replied, looking slightly uncomfortable in the harsh grasp of his brother. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

Thor exhaled through his nose and closed his eyes, turning his head away, as if it was too heavy with pain to hold upright.

Tony walked up to the two brothers, taking caution not to get too close. "It's okay Thor, he comes in peace. He won't hurt anyone." Tony said in a conciliatory way.

Loki glanced at the inventor "You don't know that."

"Not helping my point, Dancer." Tony said.

Thor seemed to believe them enough though, for his grip loosened and soon his hand had retracted to sit unsurely on Loki's shoulder, his head was still bowed.

"You are alive." Thor said, his voice sounding like gravel.

"I think we have established that already," Loki replied.

Thor took his hand from Loki's golden shoulder guard, his fingers curling in on themselves and forming tight fists.

"Thor -" Loki began.

The blonde god lunged, and before Loki had time to process how to best avoid getting punched in the face, a set of muscular arms were enveloping him in a hug so tight that he could swear that the front and back of his ribcage were touching.

The god of lies didn't exactly know how to react so he simply stood there with his arms pinned to his sides and thought he'd wait it out.

Thor just buried his face deeper into Loki's shoulder, his blond hair cascading everywhere. "How many times can you do this to me?"

"As many times as you will believe it, you fool." Loki responded. Honestly, he had pretended to be dead before, Thor should have figured it out.

Loki felt Thor laugh shakily, "Then I shall never believe it again."

When Thor finally released his brother it was only half way; he still kept his large hands on Loki's slender but strong shoulders, as though if he let go, his brother would turn to smoke before his very eyes, which, in truth, was not that outlandish a fear; Loki had a tendency to do such things.

As Thor's eyes locked onto Loki, the trickster tried to ignore the needles that radiated outwards towards him from those sharp blue eyes; those electric blue orbs that were staring into everything he was. How those eyes could hold so much love, and anger, and confusion was beyond Loki's knowledge.

And he wished it wasn't, he now realized how sorely lacking he was in the field of emotion. He had let his brother think he was dead, twice, after all. That could be seen as rather cruel if he examined it from a certain angle.

This whole time Thor was just standing there with a look of utter disbelief plastered on his face, it was one of wonderment, but of pain as well; and when he finally brought himself to look back up at his misbehaving brother, Loki could feel, for that instant, everything that Thor felt himself, and it hurt.

"Why tell me?" Asked the bewildered thunder God, "you could have let me mourn for the rest of my days and not given a second thought to the matter! Why tell me, and why now?"

Loki rolled his eyes, "His name starts with a T and ends with obnoxious bastard."

Tony raised his hand casually, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you spelled that wrong." He said in his best fake-offended voice.

Thor only smiled, it was a small smile, but it sure was better than the I'm-confused, -infuriated, -and-probably-dangerous-face.

"So this is why you have all been acting so strange the past few days." Thor mused, looking around at his super-powered friends.

"Well, most of the time, yeah. Some of us are just weird." Tony said.

* * *

**I think there will be one more chapter. Tell me if you have anything in mind to happen in it. Please review!**


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